Hollow building unit



' 21 1927. June G. D. REAGAN HOLLOW BUTLDING UNIT Filed Feb. 25, 1926 Patented June 21, 1927.

UNITED STATES onoaen n. REAGAN, or oxnanom cir'r, oxmnoma HOLLOW BUILDING UNIT.

Application filed February 25, 1926. Serial No. 90,642. I

My. present invention is a novel and improved form of hollow building tile, brick or unit, of the type illustrated in my prior Patent 1,495,439, having capacity for fracturable sub-divisions, and the resultin wall structure therefrom. I have illustrate various other modifications of my novel building units or blocks, in co-pending applications, viz, Serial N 0. 89,621, filed February 20, 1926, Serial No. 93,698, filed March 10, 1926, and Serial No. 93,699, filed March 10, 1926.

In my development of the art of hollow brick ortile and wall structures, I have devised several forms of hollow building unit, having a plurality of pairs of interior webs, giving a capacity for fracturable sub-divisions, while still preserving a usable building unit in the part or parts thus broken and sub-divided. In the present form of my invention, I have herein illustrated a peculiarly desirable and advantageous structure of hollow block or tile, combining with the features of the interior pairs of webs permitting fracture of the connections therebetween, a block having different forms of outer wall faces. Important advantages in the present invention consist in the facility of breaking the block, providing a block with relatively thick load carrying, fire resisting outer faces, together with a1r spaces or voids in these wall faces, which, however, will not prevent their utilization as mortar beds throughout the entire thickness of the wall face;.great facility in laying u the wall structure by reason of the size and of the block; the important advanta e of interrupting the horizontal mortar he s by hollow air spaces; and the further advantage of enabling a relatively broad mortar bed or a plurality of broad mortar beds-to be employed, giving great load-carrying capacity and compressive strength.

Furthermore, my present form of block is extremely simple to manufacture, enabling a column of clay material to be forced out through a die to form the same, and wire cut in any desired width or lengths. Thus I preferably form my entire block of substantially brick-size in its outer face, while it maybe equally well out in cube form or longer. A desirable dimension as for a ten inch wall would give the tile practically of 'ten by ten width and depth, when out for substantially brick-size ap earance would'be approximately 3 in heig t.

.I have illustrated in the attached draw-- area affording the desirable advantages of double hollow wall faces, giving a broad mortar bed spanning the small hollows, together with an interruption of the horizontal mortar bed, where desired, and also ready breaking or fracturability.

I may also form the blocks of the present invention with one or more kerfs or predetermined corners which ma be either left in the face of the wall and fil ed with mortar, or will facilitate mortar receiving on the inside of the wall. Preferably such kerfs are substantially like those shown in my prior and copendin application Ser. No. 674,289, filed Novem r 12, 1923, wherein I claim broadly this feature of an ofiset web around these kerfs.

Further novel features, combinations and advantages will be hereinafter more fully pointed out and claimed.-

preferred embodiments of the invention,

Fig. 1 is a partial perspective View of a wall structure;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the block shown in Fig. 1, with a quarter broken away;

Fig.3 illustrating a block with a half broken;

Fig. 4 illustrates a quarter sub-division which is still useful as a'building unit;

Fig. 5 is a view of an oblong form of block.

Referring to the drawings illustrating Referring to the block illustrated in Figs.

1, 2, 3 and 4. this block or building unit gives capacity for ready and'interchangeable fracturing in either cross diameter. The block or unit, therefore, is made up in original form, with practically four equal quarter sections, united b fracturable connections. Each quarter section also has preferably at least one outer face made of two webs with a relatively small void therebetween, thus givinto halves or quarters.

cross webs through which the block is broken Thus the webs or walls 3, 5, 8 and 9 of each quarter enclose a relatively large opening or void 10. The entire block is thus composed of fracturable quarters along the lines of the double interior cross-webs 8 and 9, being connected at the center by one or more fracturable connections 12, and at or near the faces by fracturable connections, preferably oifset as illustrated at 15, thus permitting the formation of kerfs 16 having smooth predetermined cornersformed thereon. The center connecting web 12 and the smooth-corner construction of the kerfs, is substantially identical with this feature as illustrated in my prior and copending application Ser. No. 89,621, filed February 20, 1926. It will be readily appreciated that this form embodies the advantages of the double pairs of interior cross-webs, giving relatively long frac turable voids as designated at. 20 and 21.

When built into a wall structure as shown in Fig. 1, the double web portions are preferably positioned in the outer wall face, or in parallelism to receive the comparatively broad mortar beds 25, 25, the mortar readily spanning the small voids 4 and simply keying in same, while thuscovering the two adjacent webs 2 and 3; The block 1 is preferably of suitable area to span the width of the wall, as shown, and a half block 30, as illustrated in Fig. 3 and at the corner of the top course shown in Fi 1, can be readily fractured and built in with the wall to stagger joints on the full blocks.

The kerfs 16 are of sulficient and proper width and depth to receive the mortar strips 31 to correspond with the real mortar joints at 32 between the half tile 30 and the block 1, thus giving the outer wall appearance of substantially brick bonding. If desired, these kerfs may be left open, simulating the appearance of a raked out joint.

While I preferably utilize separated mortar beds-as shown at the right in Fig. 1, to provide.moistureproofness, the large air spaces 10 thus interrupting each horizontal mortar course, yet I may equally advantageously employ a practically solid mortar bed as shown at 35, at the left of Fig. 1.

' Thus, where greater strength is desired, or

where half blocks or quarter sections may be employed, it is sometimes desirable to increase the mortar bed, in which case the entire Web strength of the wall structure is utilized by mortar coverings, leaving only the hollow interior air openings 10. Thus the small voids in the wall faces or between the double webs of the wall face, are sealed at each mortar course, whereas the lar e voids 10 are preferably open throughout t e height of a story or of the wall. Insulating material, piping, wiring, etc., ma be conducted through any' of these air spaces,

thereby addin the provision of a cold proof, heat proof an moisture roof wall structure.

In Fig. 5 a still furt er oblong form of block is shown, constructed preferably for longitudinal fracturing into two relatively long rectangular building blocks and of any height or width desired. For this purpose the kerfs 16 are preferably applied and with the small fracturable cross-webs 71, 71, at each end, and 72 in the approximate middle, it can be readily broken, while the double pair of interior cross-webs 73 and 7 4 permit lateral fracturing where desired. In all the forms, as herein illustrated, I employ the feature of double interior pairs of crosswebs, with fracturable connectionstherebe tween, thus resulting in the sub-division of usable buildin members from the entire unit or block. Furthermore, with the building unit thus subdivided-where desiredvat beams, windows, piers, walls, or around pipes or the like, I prevent all waste by utilizing the resultant sections, and even when thus sub-divided, the sections broken can be repositioned in the wall with perfect facility and interlocking where desired. The small broken fracturable connections 12, 15, etc., are of such slight extent that they will readily be buried within and covered by the adjacent mortar joint, permitting use of the half and quarter sections interchangeably, horizontally or vertically, so far as the voids are concerned. All the different forms of blocks may be of an appropriate size or dimension, and of cu ical or rectangular extent, capable of being made in an economical die machine and wire cut to length. "In fact the wire cutting cross-wise of the line of travel of the column of clay material is a desirable feature, as such-wire cutting will usually partially close the small voids 4 in the wall faces, thereby preventing mortar from falling thereinother than slightly extending downwardly to key the walls and hence affording the united extent of a broad mortar base of both Webs and the area of the void 4.; The blocks are used interchangeably, interlock completely, and fracture into sub-divisions easily.-

My invention is further described and defined in the form of claims as follows:

1. A rectangular hollow building tile of the kind described, comprising a plurality of separable units, each unit bein defined at the exterior faces of said tile y kerfs formed by ofiset transverse webs uniting said units and a, single connecting web located centrally of said tile.

2. A rectangular hollow building tile having a plurality of large voids defined by the outer walls on one side thereof, and on the other sides by webs having smaller voids therem,.one pair of said webs being con nected at their center by asingle transverse web, and terminating at the outer walls at fracturable connections, said fracturable whereby said tile may be divided into a pluconnections comprising ofiset webs, another rality of smaller tiles, each having three of pair of said webs being divided by the first its sides formed by said webs.

pair of webs and terminating at the outer In testimony whereof, I have signed my 5 walls at similar 'fracturable connections, all name to this specification.

of said fracturable connections having formed predetermined corner structures. GEORGE D. REAGAN. 

